Did ‘ya Guess It?

Our eighth LOCATION, LOCATION, Location? played a few tricks on our readers minds similar to unraveling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting…

Before we get to the answer, you might want to know that there are thousands and thousands of uses for corn, all of which I’m going to tell you about right now!

Okay, forget that and let’s listen to reason and get along with the answer here, shall we?  Our eighth LOCATION, LOCATION, Location? location is none other than Pee-Wee Herman’s house from the 1985 blockbuster smash hit, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. 

‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’ 1985

Let’s take a look at the NOW and THEN picture and a bit of information about the location …

‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’ house located in South Pasadena, CA

Released in 1985, the Tim Burton-directed movie, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure went on to become a sleeper hit of the summer that not only firmly established Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) as a household name and inspired his equally popular television show, but also spawned a new vocabulary of catchphrases for kids and adults alike growing up in the 80’s.  “I know you are, but what am I?”

Pee-Wee’s house is not an adobe found deep in the heart of Texas or the basement of the Alamo.  It’s real-life location can be found in South Pasadena, California, a favorite town used for many popular Hollywood films including Teen Wolf, Back to the Future, and even the horror classic, Halloween, (whose house location had a slight move from its original spot, but is located very near to Pee-Wee’s house. Surprisingly, although Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure is a cross-country roadtrip movie, almost all of the locations were shot in Southern California and many can still be visited to this day.

Despite many beautiful homes in South Pasadena, Pee-Wee’s house is a little worse for wear nowadays, but surprisingly retains many of the same physical characteristics it displayed when it was dressed up for filming.  Even the front tree still stands to this day.  Off to the right, Mr. Crabtree’s house and window are exactly the same color and only have some screens added on.  The house on the left is still perfectly identical to its appearance in the film.  The color scheme on Pee-Wee’s house is now somewhat reversed, trading red for white, and it’s overall dilapidated condition would cause Mr. T to pity the fool who let it get that way.  The absence of lawn ornaments, no doubt, takes away the charm, but it’s nice to see the house numbers and front door remain the same.  And the backyard?  What about the secret panel that opens the secret chamber where Pee-Wee’s fantastic bike is stored?  Sorry, the secret panel and hedge chamber are long gone along with the red house paint.

For those big location adventure seekers out there, take some time to do your research and you too can live the movie.

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There are three things that matter in filmmaking and television:

Location, Location, Location.

As part of a fun series here on Beyond the Marquee, I will be choosing random filming locations from some famous (and not so famous) film and television productions throughout the years.  They will be posted here for our viewers to take a guess as to what movie or TV show the location was used.

The location as it looks NOW will be posted on Monday and on Wednesday, I will post the answer and THEN picture identifying the location as it was seen on the large or small screen. Some entries may be very easy to guess, others may be difficult and sometimes I may give a clue that will help point you in the right direction.

Previous LOCATION, LOCATION, Location?  Entries can be found here:

http://beyondthemarquee.com/category/about-us/original-featured-sections/location-location-location/